How to properly self-advertise/promote your comic?

[musicalseason]

Hello! Im kind of new to comic making, I have less than ten pages on my current comic ^^" Ive always read everywhere that self promoting is huge help to a comic, like using social media such as twitter, tumblr, instagram, etc. but im not sure how to use those to promote without sounding like im begging or being annoying, if that makes sense? I have a deviant art but I havent posted much on there, and I have an instagram dedicated to artworks nut I havent properly posted on in months due to school and other outside things. What do you guys suggest, and how do you guys promote your comic? All help and advice is appreciated, thank you! ;;

[aspiderjonny]

Well, when it comes to social media just post a link to your comic every time it makes an update. Maybe with a cool descriptive title, if you can. There's also the twitter chats @ComicBookHour and @WebComicChat. Getting involved in that would be a great way to get exposure. And there's tons of topics in the forums here made specifically for self-promotion

You can link your comic in topics that aren't completely about promotion, but only if it's warranted. Like if it's a forum post about favorite moments in your comic or an art trade. But don't post if it's, say, a post about features on the site or someone else is asking for reviews. It can be difficult sometimes to guess when is the right time/post to bring up your comic, but I at least get a good gut feeling of when it's appropriate.

But never beg! Don't go to a comic you like and comment you comic links unless they ask for it. Don't spam peoples walls or forums. I can guess from your post that you wouldn't do this, but there are people who don't know the difference.

[shazzbaa]

For now, I think the most helpful thing you can do is find other comic artists on twitter, tumblr, instagram, or whatever you're interested in trying, and don't worry about self-promoting right away -- just watch what they do! I started making images for my update tweets when I saw other artists doing it, and I started using replies to "bump" those tweets back up throughout the week when I saw other artists doing it and realised it wasn't annoying to see them do it -- it was helpful for me to remember to check their comic! I learn a lot just by watching what's working for other people.

Though I'll also link this thread, since it has a lot of info about twitter specifically, how people use it, and how to participate in comic hashtag chats, since there's a big comics community on twitter right now!

But part of watching other artists is also going to be, learning how to participate in the community of whatever social media you're trying. A lot of "promoting" on social media involves growing your audience in those places, which involves more than just sharing your comic. I talk about my comic a bunch, because it's something I'm excited about and think about a lot, but I also share other art and other things I'm interested in. Somebody who's never seen my work before might not immediately be interested in my comic, but if they find my art nice enough to stick around, and they like my sense of humour, then someday they might check it out and become a new reader.

[Kawaiiyusra]

10 Steps to promoting your webcomic

1. Keep a consistent update schedule (This way people will always keep checking for new content, If you don't you risk losing readers)
2. Pay it forward by visiting other webcomics and commenting on their comics.
3. Try posting the comic on Deviantart and submit pages to comic or any groups which is relevant to the theme of the comic
4. Make sure if you post your comic multiple places always link back to the other places to read it. (Nothing annoys me more than having artist trying to have people read their comic on DA or Tumblr by following links. Just link them back to a webcomic site)
5. It's a long process but it takes about 3 years of consistent updates for a webcomic to properly mature, because it takes time for new people to find your comic. There is no way to rush this process unless you are a phenomenal artist or are already popular.
6. Also stagger your pages. With every new post on either Tapastic or Smackjeeves gives your a comic a chance to appear in the "just updated section"
7. If you have extra money try running a contest with your characters (Only cash prizes will garner any decent attention however
8. Just generally be active in the community, like post in the forums.
9. If you go to anime conventions you can get bookmarks printed for cheap and hand them out to people who are interested (don't just hand them out to anyone though)
10. Keep improving and practicing your art, the better your comic the higher the chances are for someone to check it out. There are a lot of webcomics out there competing for attention

[Zetsubonii]

I can somewhat back what Kawaiiyusra's comment on 3 years as I'm also researching on how to promote my own comic (it's Jim's Days btw (shameless advertisement)), and I've been going through Fresh for the past few days and notice something:

1) People starting up the last few months will typically have less than 50 subscribers with views ranging between 0-500 views in total
2) There are a lot of people who have less than 200 subscribers but have 1000-2000 views with some even having as much as just 20 subscribers and having 1.1k views
3) The people mentioned in 2 however have been posting for more than a year, consistently as well

These are some of the notes I've taken while swimming through Tapastic, I hope it helps ^^

[Zetsubonii]

Update:
-Regardless on how long you've been here, as long as you have a BL story, it'll do well? :U

[CireWire]

From my experience (you don't need to follow these) I would say:

Save merch, monetizing, and all that jazz in the back burner. You want to build a fan base and content first--always. Your readership is always your priority, the money will follow eventually. Everything you do is to benefit your readers.

You always want your readers to have that trust in you that you can deliver on a consistent schedule. I suggest to have a buffer of a month or 2, so that way if you get sick or something comes up at least your comic continues to be updated. Take full advantage of the schedule button if possible.

Also like the other replies said, DON'T SPAM! Readers love to see that an actual human being is behind their favorite comic, not a mindless link-posting bot.

Be friendly with other creators and retweet/share their posts, who knows? They may return the favor.

If you can avoid posting negativity. Try to maintain a cheerful persona even if an ostrich who is holding a 10-year grudge against you decided to chase you across town. You keep on smiling!

Upload to different sites such as comicfury.com and webtoons.com

If your comic is good, then you'll get an audience. Like they always say "One is better than none!"

Hope it helps and good luck with your comic!

[musicalseason]

Thanks to everyone who helped! I decied to make a twitter here since that one seems to be popular with other artists!

[alypompom28]

Are web comics that have bl content but has nothing to do with the main web comic count?